The Nature of Relationships
Introduction Any relationship involves human element. A human interaction can greatly affect the business and its relationship with the customer. This fact is the back bone of the services industry. The customer interaction can be one on one basis, over a phone, email, chat etc. Hence these interactions are going to determine whether customer is […]
Understanding Group Behaviour on Social Web
Internet has given way to new means of communication and interaction between people situated across the globe, breaking down the barriers of distance, time and borders. Technology has made it possible for people not only to talk to one another, but participate in a lot of activities together as a group. Thus group activities or […]
Why Discounting is Ruining the Retail Industry?
Discounting merchandise to increase sales has always been an important strategy used by the retail sector. However, in the past few years, the number of times that this strategy has been used has increased manifold. This is the reason why the strategy is no longer as effective as it once was. The entire premise of […]
Effective Corporate Governance Has to be Practiced at all Levels of the Organization
Some Recent Scandals Involving Corporate Governance The recent months have seen a spate of scandals involving corporates pertaining to corporate governance. From the Indian IT (Information Technology) bellwether, Infosys, to the hottest startup and Unicorn (startups that are valued at more than a Billion Dollars) and the TATA group to name a few, the corporate […]
Brand Extension – A Success or Failure ?
Brand management has become quite a challenge for brand managers as well as the Organizations today. Intense competition and the decreasing product life of a brand add further dimensions to the brand management problem. Brand managers by and large opt for brand extensions now days. You can check any shelf in the super market and […]
The relationship between the board of directors and the management cannot be described as just being that of a relationship between an employee and his or her manager. Though the board oversees the decisions taken by the management and ratifies them along with acting as the final arbiters of the strategic direction and focus that the company is heading into, the relationship goes beyond that.
For instance, the board of directors is responsible for the actions of the management and hence not only does the board need to monitor the management, the management needs to take the board into confidence about its decisions. Hence, the relationship can be described as being symbiotic with each with each serving in an ecosystem called the organization.
The point here is that neither the management nor the board can exist without each other and hence both need each other to survive and flourish.
Another aspect to the relationship between the board and the management is that more often than not, there is a significant representation of the management in the board. This means that the other board members have to study the decisions taken by these members carefully so that there are no agency problems, conflicts of interest and asymmetries of information.
Only when the board and the management coexist together in a harmonious manner can there be true progress for the organization. For this to happen, there must be a provision for having independent directors and those directors that are not affiliated to the management.
The point here is that unless there is objectivity and separation of the directors belonging to the management and those from outside can there is a semblance of avoidance of conflict of interest.
The third aspect of the relationship between the board and the management is the role played by institutional investors or directors from large equity houses and mutual fund companies. These directors bring to the table rich and varied expertise and experience in running companies and hence their input is crucial to the working of the company. It is for this reason that many regulators insist on having a certain percentage of the board as independent directors and another percentage from institutional shareholders. The reason for this is the fact that unless there is a process of due diligence and oversight over the actions of the management, the management can take unilateral decisions that are not always in the best interests of the company.
Finally, the relationship between the board and management is somewhat strained whenever the company is not doing well. This happens because the board has a top view of the organization and the management has a deeper insight.
Hence, to be fair to the management, they are the ones who have to run the organization and so they cannot be constrained by what the board dictates sitting on its perch. This is the classic problem that many companies face especially when they are not doing well and the remedy for this is to take the board into confidence about the complexities of the day to day operations and apprise them of the nuances and subtleties of running the organization.
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